Ironing board having steam generating means



P 1943- L. REICHOLD 2,450,092 7 IRONING BOARD HAVING STEAM GENERATINGMEANS FiledAug. 16, 1944 LUDWIG REICI-DLD INVENTOR.

. BY M, w, hwug+am ATTORNEYS the drawing I have of metal, plastic orother suitable-material Patented Sept. 28, 1948 mourns noano navmo sraAMGENERATING MEANS" Ludwig lbeichold,

Silex Company, of Connecticut Application August 16,

Winsted. Conn,

Hartford, Conn., a corporation assignor to The 1944, Serial No. 549,688

Claims. (Cl. 38-104) This invention relates to ironing boards and moreparticularly to an ironing board provided with a steam generator mountedthereon for delivering steam to suitable channels arranged in thepressing plate of the iron.

It has been proposed to provide a steam generator remote from the ironused in pressing fabrics and connect such generator to channels in thepressing plate of the iron by a suitable conduit, such as a rubber hose.In the present invention I propose to mount the generator on the ironingboard to permit it to be moved from place to place with the board andalways be available when wanted.

The principal objection to such construction is that the generator; iflarge enough to contain a suitable quantity of water, is too cumbersometo be moved about with the ironing board and be -left on the board whenthe board is folded for storing. If the generator is made of smallersize, its capacity is limited, thereby requiring frequent refilling.Lovercome these. objections by providing a reservoir-of substantialcapacity, which is of relatively large surface area but of shallowdepth, to permit it to be built into the board, and connect thisreservoir to the generatorto supply water thereto. By this means Iprovide a generator which may be mounted on the board and also providemeans for furnishing a suitable supply of water for generating steamwithout producing a cumbersome construction and permit the entireapparatus to be folded and stored in the way that ironing boards areusually stored.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown one embodiment ofthe invention.In this showing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an ironing board equipped with a steamgenerator and water reservoir;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view on'line of Fig.- 1; and

Fig. 3 is a detailed view showing the connection between the reservoirand the generator.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral i designates the ironingsurface of the board. It may be formed of any suitable material and, ifformed of wood. the reservoir may be arranged on the under surface ofthe board. In

illustrated a board formed which may be stamped or otherwise shaped, andwhich is of less thickness than the conventional wooden ironing board.The board may be provided with a suitable flange 2 extending entirelyaround it and a steam generator 3 may be arranged in a recess in one endof the board and retained there- .connected to a conventional in in anysuitable manner. On the under surface of the board, and preferablywithin the flanges, I provide a reservoir 4. As shown. the

reservoir is shallow in depth and thereby does not produce a cumbersomeconstruction but is of relatively large surface area to permit it tocontain a suitable quantity of water. The reservoir may be providedwithasuitable fllling opening in alignment with an opening in the board andclosed by a plug 5 (see Fig. 3).

The board may be provided with the conventional folding legs 8 and Asuitable control switch (not shown) may be mounted on, the generator andpr vided with a lead wire 9 having a plug ill on its outer end adaptedto be convenience outlet. to the iron l2. adapted to be connected to thebody of the iron by a flexible connection. such as a rubber hose H. Thelead wire ii and the hose Il may be secured to each other by suitableclips I. v

The detailed construction of one form of the invention. is shown in Fig.3 of the drawings. As

= shown, the reservoir and generator are preferably arranged so that thebottom beneath the bottom of the reservoir. Thus when the reservoircontains water, it will always flow into the generator. The reservoirmay be provided with a suitable outlet i6 adapted to be connected toinlet ll of the generator by a union [8 or othersuitable connectioncapable of being disassembled to permit removal of the generator fromthe ironing board. The generator may be provided with a drain I! in thebottom to permit removal of any water remaining inthe generator or thereservoir when the board-is to be folded and stored.

The reservoir is preferably spaced from the under surface of the board,as shown in Fig. 3, and is secured in such position by anysuitablemeans. such as clips 20. This permits moisture collecting in the ironingpad (not shown) during the use of the iron to have an opportunity to dryout. Otherwise moisture accumulating between the pad and the board, thecondensation of which would be aggravated by the cooling effect of thewater stored in the tank. would require longer periods of time toevaporate. By perforating the board to permit air to pass through fromthe space between the board and the top of the reservoir, theevaporation of this moisture can be accelerated.

The operation of the device will be apparent from the foregoingdescription. The reservoir 4 of the generator is the generator as anoes:

.1 3, may be filled. or partially filled, with water by removing plugand, because the bottom of the generator is at a lower level, water willflow into long as the reservoir contains any water. The generator may beor any suitable type and may be of the type shown in my copendingapplication. Serial No. 549,887, filed August 16, 1944, now Patent No.2,435,325, issued February 3,. 1948, provided with means forautomatically cutting oil the current when the level of water in thegenerator falls to a certain point. Assuming that the generator containssuflicient water, with the plug in inserted in the convenience outletsteam is generated and passes through the connection I. to the iron. Byusing a generator which generates steam substantially instantaneouslyand which ceases. to generate steam substantially instantaneously whenthe current is cut oil, the iron may be used as a steam iron'and thedelivery of steam to the iron discontinued when desired for the last fewironing strokes of certain fabrics which require dry pressing in thelast few strokes. When the ironing board is to be folded and stored, thegenerator and reservoir may be drained through the outlet l9.

An important safety feature of the device is that generation of thesteam may be controlled by the same switch which controls the heatingelement of the iron whereby flow of steam is stopped when the switch isturned off. This eliminates the necessity of a valve in the steam lineas the steam line is always open to the atmosphere through the rubberhose and the steam channels of the iron. It is therefore impossible tobuild up steam pressure in the generator to a dangerous point.

I claim:

1. In an ironing board having means for supplying steam for use with asteam iron, a reservoir of substantial area and of shallow depth mountedon and extending over a major portion 01 the underside of said ironingboard, and a steam generator for supplying steam to said iron andconnected to the reservoir; the bottom of said steam generator beinglower than the bottom of the reservoir to permit drainage of liquid fromthe reservoir to the'generator.

2. In an ironing board having a peripheral flange depending therefrom,means for supplying steam for use with a steam iron comprising a steamgenerator mounted on said ironing board, and a reservoir of substantialarea and of shallow depth mounted on the underside of said ironing boardwithin said flange and connected to the said steam generator forsupplying liquid thereto.

3. An ironing board having means for supplying steam for use with asteam iron, said means comprising a reservoir of a depth notsubstantially greater than the thicknes or the board but being or asubstantial area and extending over the major portion 01' the undersurface of the board and secured to the under surface thereof, and asteam generator connected to the reservoir and mounted on the ironingboard to supply steam to an iron.

4. An ironing board having means for supplying steam for use with asteam iron, the board being provided with a flange depending from itsperipheral edges, the steam supplying means comprising a reservoir of adepth not substantially greater than that 01' the flange but being of asubstantial area and extending over the major portion 01' the undersurface of the board with the greater portion of the reservoir withinthe flange. and a steam generator connected to the reservoir and mountedon the board for supplying steam to an iro 5. In an ironing board of thecharacterdescribed including means for supplying steam to a steam ironfor use on said board, a steam generator connected to said iron, and areservoir mounted up on the bottom of said ironing board and connectedto said generator for supiying liquid thereto; the said reservoircomprising a container of shallow depth and substantial area extendingover a major portion of the area of the underside of said ironing board;voir being relatively shallow to permit storing of said ironing boardwith the reservoir thereon in a space of a size substantially the sameas required for the ironing board independently or the reservoir. 7LUDWIG REICHOLD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Dyer Mar. 5, 1946 the depth of said reser--

